ᴛʜɪʀᴅ ᴘᴏᴠ

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 & 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘺

♛♛♛

Predator and his prey.

That was the game he loved to play.

The melancholy sobbing of a man in the distance echoed off the cellar walls, creating an infinite beat of darkness.

The predator slammed the cellar door shut behind him, leaving the weaker guy shackled to the bloodied walls, screaming in terror.

"Please God," He prayed, his chained hands squeezing into fists, knowing he couldn't pray to the Gods with his palms together.

Another scream of aid went out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me." The man's cheeks were dripping with tears, and he was shivering uncontrollably from the panic that had swept over him.

The predator, who had entered, had taken a step nearer, then another.

Each step was as tremendous as though a God were walking across the earth. With each stride, his broad shoulders moved, effortlessly enhancing the authority he possessed.

The darkness made absolutely no one around see where he was coming from. For all the weaker man knew, he could've been right beside him, watching him cry out in mercy.

The only source of illumination was a small, faint light. The moonlight shined brightly through the window beside the chained man, casting that same light down on him.

And when the powerful man took another step forward, he came into the light—only gathering half of his face—enough to make the prey's thoughts crawl with full fucking fear.

Shakily, the man held in a breath, eyes wider than ever as he was face to face with the most feared criminal in the state, possibly in the world.

No emotion was placed on the man. Numb to everything around him. He held a single cigarette between his lips, and the orange flame lit up his face just an ounce, allowing the weaker man to have a fleeting view of the final face he'd see tonight.

After a brief inhalation, Julius exhaled the smoke. The toxin had only eased his soul by an inch, and the raging fire that had consumed his entire body had been extinguished by a single flame.

"Mr Santo... I'm deeply sorry for the trouble I've caused. If you'd just let me go, please, I have a fam—

The blunt was then pressed against the man's naked chest, striking him square in the heart. Julius let the dead cigarette fall to the ground as he screamed in pain, knowing full well that it wouldn't be enough to calm him down from the anger.

"Y-You bastard!" The man howled weakly, oblivious to the danger he had caused himself.

Taking the single blade from his stash of many, the honed knife's point hit directly onto the man's pulse, alongside his neck.

Gulping with fear, he shook, desperately trying to not move his head so the blade wouldn't apply pressure. Sweat beads fell from the side of the man's unshaven skin, trickling down onto the point of the knife too.

"A family you were about to say?" Julius spoke his first words, and the other man now regretted ever mentioning anything—just hearing the sound of his voice had him rolling in the deep.

His voice was oddly calm, too calm. It was a calm before the storm type. Nevertheless, the intimidation and venom that laced through it were still intact—never once faltering.

"Family? Molesting your four-year-old grandchild is what you presume is family?" Julius smirked, a sadistic devil-like smirk—filled with nothing by pure evil.

The other man's jaw dropped. No one knew about that but him. Apparently not.

"But that's not why you're here, Pablo." Twirling the knife on its point, Julius stared deeply into the eyes of the man—his grey eyes lighter than the moonlight shining through.

"Stealing will get you nowhere," The smirk dropped from Julius's lips as if it were an act the whole time. His full lips now a straight line, eyes dead like the man were about to be. "But only Karma." He added.

"I-I can get it all back," He gestured, his voice shaken with assurance. Taking another step forward, Julius now came face to face with the man—pupils dilating as the black took over the grey. Slowly, Julius sunk the blade into his skin.

Blood spritzed out, the man wailed and cried out in pain—the painfully slow blade sunk its way into the man's neck. With no mercy, Julius watched him with no fulfilment. One single thing he ever felt was watching the pain of others. It was the most he felt, ever.

With the spirit of the devil, Julius watched him die sinfully. The whole situation was as equally enjoyable for him as it wasn't for the man. Until the stream of blood stopped flowing, the pulse under his skin stopped beating—that was when he looked away.

Julius took the full bottle of liquor, pouring the alcoholic contents onto the man's limp, chained body. Tossing the bottle to the ground, he lit up his lighter—letting the single flame fall onto the man's skin.

Turning around, the man lit up in flames, mercilessly. Julius closed the door behind him, walking up the stone staircase as two of his men stood on either side of it.

"Clean up the mess once it's done."

The order was made clear. As most of his men knew, if one single aspect of his order was to be done wrong in any shape or form—they would be executed.

Arriving back into the main square of the warehouse, he exited the elevator and didn't spare a single cold glance to any of his employees.

"Sir!" A feminine voice called, the young girl ran after the man from behind. Clenching his jaw, he continued to walk—leaving the woman to catch up to him.

"We've sent a guard to watch over her," She breathed out, coming by his side now. "And one outside of her home."

"Good." By the digital fingerprint touch, he exited through the warehouse doors. "I want them to keep me updated if something happens while I'm away."

"You and Gracie will be the ones to be doing the mainstream," He turned to face her, lighting his fourth cigarette of the day. Trace nodded, her hair tumbling over her shoulder.

"We've become good friends now, we'll take good care of her." Trace smiled softly, recalling the events of the previous night—their girls' night out.

Julius didn't respond; instead, he fixed his gaze on her, as if his eyes were lasers piercing her flesh. He exhaled and inhaled with finesse.

"Well, I'll leave now; I just wanted to keep you up to date, boss." Trace turned on her heel and was about to march away when she had an idea.

Returning her gaze to the enormous male, she rested a tattooed hand on her hip and tilted her head up. "She mentioned you a few times,"

Julius didn't respond, something she was expecting. However, when she and he were mentioned, a muscle in his jaw tightened.

"Hm?" He inhaled another puff of tobacco, lifting his head up an inch to the sky as he exhaled nine seconds later. "She was mentioning how kind you've been to her. Friendlier than most she's come across."

Trace hid her smile, knowing if Julius felt even a single thing for this girl he oddly took an interest in, then he would've been gleaming with joy on the inside now knowing this information.

"She doesn't know." He stated, his gaze drawn away from the insistent woman he was trying to dodge shooting, a faint evening sensation in his gut.

"I know." She answered matter-of-factly. "Keep it that way." Julius gave her a withering stare that made her want to crawl into a hole and stay there for the rest of her life.

Gulping, Trace nodded, making sure to remind Gracie not to say anything about his or their lifestyle.

Julius walked away, pushing his hair as the cigarette slipped from his mouth and he stepped over it, killing it.

He entered his car, speeding a mile out of the building and making it onto the slick roads. Returning his way to the girl he so hopelessly can't seem to rid of.

♛♛♛

The young girl came fleeing out of the building, multiple calmer students behind her—casting all sorts of weird glances towards her.

If only he could pull out his gun and shoot every one of them for the apparent stares. Julius didn't know why he felt the need to do that, he surely didn't give a shit about any of their lives—except for hers.

The past day or so, Julius has been trying to figure out why the fuck he's been hanging around this girl—even befriending her and letting her control him like this.

Of course, she didn't know what she was doing to his regular system of things. Julius was just as ruthless as ever, still cold and demanding—nothing's changed. Only the small minor disposition of him caring about life.

Hazel caught his grey eyes in the sunlight, the brightest smile filling the tips of her lips—a gleam unknown in the twinkles of the hazel mist.

She hastily walked down the concrete steps, stepping with caution he noticed. Julius leant against the car, his head cocked to the sky, his demeanour implying that he wasn't sure what he was doing.

Fucked if anyone up in the sky knew.

It seemed as if the soft, tranquil harmony that her voice preached—he stopped thinking and the previous ideas washed away—as if his silent query was answered as soon as her voice could be heard through his ears.

"Hi, Julius."

And then his name on her lips.

Every time he heard her call or simply speak his name, it was like bricks falling on top of his head—though he made sure that feeling didn't last long.

It was odd to him. Mostly whenever he heard his name it would be from his victims, begging him not to kill them till their limbs are barely holding on—or it was his name being on the tongues of the bad, shit-talking and all the rest of it.

Never has his name sounded so...sweet.

Licking his lips, he returned his gaze away from the sky and down towards the very short girl. "Hazel." He greeted, casting a glimpse over her appearance.

Over her fair skin, she wore a white sweatshirt that was baggy and concealed her figure. It ended at her hips, with a pair of loose jeans with a single rip at the knees covering part of her body.

Her feet were then decked out with white Nike Air Forces. He noticed a single heart chain dangling from her neck, which he'd seen her wear previously and now assumed was valuable to her.

Trailing back up to her features, her cheeks were coated a light shade of red right on the points of her cheekbones. Her red hair was loose, barely reaching mid-waist and framing the sides of her face with short curtain bangs.

Julius abruptly broke away from his absurd awe and pierced her with his blazing grey eyes. "So, where are we going?" She shuffled on her feet giddily, with unknown excitement.

Opening the passenger door for her, he stood aside and shrugged halfheartedly. "Not sure. Where do you want to go?"

Hazel took a step forward and anxiously rocked back and forth on her feet, her hands fumbled with the ends of her sweatshirt while her eyes met with his.

"Well, uh, I'm kind of hungry. Do you mind if we stop to get food first?"

Julius's eyes appeared to have shifted across her features, unintentionally. It was quite distracting for the girl herself, seeing that he studied her randomly.

With a light, short nod, Hazel smiled and slid into the car. Pulling out his phone, he got in on his side, slamming the door closed and tossing his phone into a cup holder.

"Your car is nice, Julius. Now that I can see it better in broad daylight." She laughed lightly.

And there it was again. His name fell from her lips. Every time she said it, it was as if a bolt of lightning or some sort of spark ignited and flipped his brain into pure fucking mush.

Pulling the gear back, he reversed out of the car and parted his lips. "Thanks, Hazel." He replied dryly.

Smiling down at her hands, the car then began to fill up with her scent.

Julius realised this last night after he dropped her home. His car somehow ended up smelling like her.

Vanilla and passion fruit was what she smelt like. Two different scents combined into one that only identified as her.

Sighing, Hazel reached into her purse and grabbed some cash. "Restaurant?" Julius spoke, speeding into the middle lane. "Whatever's closest."

Pursing her lips, she watched as he drove—and he was aware that she was observing.

A McDonald's was soon to be seen up ahead of the road and little Hazel gleamed with joy. "Can we go there?" She pointed a finger in the direction of the drive-thru.

"Mhm," He pulled the car over to the lane leading up to the restaurant. "Also, I know a field we can hang out at. It's only a ten-minute drive from here." The burning stare of her was evident as her mixed eyes looked to the side of his face.

Pulling into the drive-through, Julius leant back in his seat as he rolled down his window. Looking over at the girl, he tapped his fingers lightly against the steering wheel.

"What do you want?"

He sat in silence, waiting for her response. She didn't seem bothered by his cold demeanour, never complaining about it or appearing intimidated by it. He was surprised that she wasn't as impacted as the others.

Part of the reason was probably because Hazel had no idea who he was. People stare and seem afraid if they even cast a glance at Julius because of his reputation.

He wanted to keep that information away from her. For as long as possible.

Because once she finds out, he knew for sure that she would run for the hills.

"A raspberry smoothie and just a regular McNuggets and Fries meal, please," Hazel called into the speaker, the lady said the total and told them to the drive-thru.

As Hazel scrambled through her wallet for some money, a hand was suddenly placed on top of hers—stopping her from the fussing.

Looking up, her innocent eyes curled with confusion. "Put it away." He demanded, stopping the car beside the window. Frowning further, she glimpsed at the hand in his lap that held a black credit.

"Julius!" She gasped softly, watching as he was already passing the credit card to the worker through the window.

Hazel watched with wide eyes, his gaze was almost becoming amused from the amount of shock twisted in her frame.

"Here's your meal," A feminine voice scrambled her neglect from her head, she snapped back into reality as a paper brown bag was placed in her lap.

Julius turned the window up, speeding out of the cramped drive-in. "Thank you for paying. But you really shouldn't have, you've already done enough for me." Hazel mumbled, beginning to open her straw.

Glancing at her, he caught onto her light pink cheeks hollowing as she sucked the contents of her drink. Her rosy lips were wrapped around the clear straw, only highlighting them further.

Looking away, the man took in a silent deep breath and fisted his hand around the wheel. "We're friends aren't we?" He spoke up, his jaw ticked in the process.

"Of course," She muttered with a mouthful of raspberry liquid. He looked down at her lips once more, trailing them back up to her soft gaze. "Means I can pay."

He figured he'd reason with her, logically. Figuring that she would only accept him paying that way.

She thought about it for a while until finally nodding her head slowly. "Well, that means I'll pay next time, for the both of us."

Smiling, she soon sipped on her drink again—only having him shake his head with more amusement.

It wasn't a ten-minute drive, but it was less than five minutes. They made it in three minutes thanks to Julius's speeding abilities.

As he parked in a random position, Hazel took a glance around the area. Her gaze was drawn to the field, which was as plain as day but as large as a stadium.

And lucky for them, no one seemed to be occupying it.